‘Last Days’ premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and will be the opening film for the Sarasota Film Festival on April 4th.

“Every so often we commission a film with such emotional gravity and contemporary resonance that we feel it deserves a broad theatrical release,” said American Experience Films executive producer Mark Samels. “As we approach the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, and at a time when we as a nation again evaluate what is owed to those left behind when a war ends, ‘Last Days in Vietnam’ tells a story that is inspiring, cautionary, and remarkably relevant.”

“‘Last Days in Vietnam’ chronicles the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War, when North Vietnamese forces closed in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance quickly crumbled. With the specter of a Communist victory looming and only a skeleton crew of diplomats and military operatives still in the country, the United States prepared to withdraw. As they began to realize the likely imprisonment and possible death of their South Vietnamese allies, American diplomats and soldiers confronted a moral quandary: obey White House orders to evacuate only U.S. citizens, or risk being charged with treason and save the lives of as many South Vietnamese citizens as they can. With time running out and the city under fire, an unlikely group of heroes emerged as Americans and South Vietnamese took matters into their own hands.”

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Zhao said with her Bass Reeves biopic, she’ll direct a more traditional cast like she did with her first-timers: “You can work with an actor in a certain way, you can create an environment like Terrence Malick has always done.”